Differences between Statue of Unity & Statue of Liberty

October 31, 2018

After the Statue of Unity — said to be the world’s tallest statue — was unveiled today in the Indian state of Gujarat, many people across the globe are curious to know in what ways is this piece of marvel different from the world-renowned Statue of Liberty, USA.

If you are also looking for the same then you are at the right web address as we are going to compare the two statues under many ‘parameters’.

1) Height

While the Statue of Unity, located near Sardar Sarovar Dam on Narmada river in Gujarat, is 182 meters high, the statue of liberty, ‘residing’ on the New York Harbor’s Liberty Island in NYC, is around 93 metres tall. In other words, Statue of Unity is almost twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty.

2) Date of Inauguration

The Statue of Liberty was inaugurated on October 28, 1886 by the then US President Grover Cleveland. On the other hand, The Statue of Unity was inaugurated on October 31, 2018 by Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. #132YearDifference.

3) What do the two statues represent?

The Statue of Liberty is a figure of a woman in robe representing Libertas- the Roman goddess of freedom. She holds a torch in her right hand stretched above her head. In her left hand, she carries a tabula ansata inscribed in Roman numerals with “JULY IV MDCCLXXVI” (July 4, 1776)— the date of the US Declaration of Independence. Thus, it stands for democracy and freedom.

Whereas the Statue of Unity has been made in the honour of the first home minister of Independent India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who is often remembered as the ‘Iron Man’ man who thwarted efforts to disintegrate the country. According to Indian PM Narendra Modi’s speech, the Statue of Unity is a symbol of the country’s engineering and technical capabilities.

4) Time of Completion

While the Statue of Liberty was built over a period of 11 years, India’s Statue of Unity was ready in a record 34 months!

5) Material used to build the two statues

The American statue comprises of an inner framework of iron and a copper exterior, while the Indian statue is made up of reinforcement steel, structural steel and bronze.

6) Budget

The Liberty was built at a cost of around $100,000, which was raised via a crowd-funding campaign by Joseph Pulitzer, a newspaper publisher. And, The Unity was built over a cost of INR 2,989 crore ($403.9 million)!